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"Mr. Temmek, we're going to send you off for an MRI scan. It should tell us what's causing your pain." A female voice said to me.

I could hear the nurse as she talked to me, but it was hard to focus with all the pain meds in my system and the sharp pains I could feel from my spine. I reached up and grabbed the nurse's arm. As they wheeled the gurney down the hall labeled 'radiography'.

I was in the MRI machine for about twenty minutes, before they wheeled me back to the room. I could see the cheetah doctor in the hall. She was talking to the doctor I saw earlier. He was an otter, average height, middle aged with dark brown fur. He walked into the room holding a metal clip board.

"Hello I'm doctor Calpo. I'm afraid your spine's not looking too well." He leaned over, to show me the pictures he got from my MRI. "If you look here you can see that one of the disks in your lower spine, called the lumbar region, has collapsed. In most animals this typically only happens to the elderly but, in felines it is much more common, even in younger felines, and especially among hybrids like yourself. Fortunately we can fix this with surgery in your case but that's not all I'm concerned about. It appears that the vertebra right above the disk has developed a small fracture. In a way you're lucky this happened now, if we didn't catch this now it would have caused some more serious problems for you later."

The otter had a dead serious tone that was slightly comforting because of the way it just rambled on and on without giving you a chance to even realize what he's really saying.

"So what could have caused the fracture?" I asked him.

"We're not sure yet." He said, I feel another ramble coming on, "It appears that something has weakened the structure of your bones though. And that could be caused by anything from a fault in your biology making it unable to process calcium as efficiently, which is easily treatable with dietary supplements, or it could be something more serious. Right now we need to fix your back and we need to do it soon, before the fracture becomes any worse. After surgery we'll worry about the rest of you, okay?" I nodded my head in response to him, and the nurses began to wheel me out of the room again.

"Wait!" I yelled, "I want to see Brandon. He's the lion that came in with me."

He signaled to the nurse in the corner, a hippo.

"Nurse, can you go see if there is a lion, by the name of Brandon in the waiting room and bring him to surgical bay five." The doctor said.

"Right away doctor." The hippo nurse said.

The other nurses, resumed their task of wheeling me out of the room and to the surgical ward. When we got to the room, I could see the familiar face of my love, running down the hall to me with the hippo nurse chasing him.

"Samson!" he ran up next to me and caressed my cheek. He tears in his eyes.

"I'll be alright, wait for me." I comforted him.

The doctor interrupted our moment, with his serious doctor voice, "I'm sorry Mr. Temmek, but we need to get you into surgery." The nurses continued to push me through the doors to the surgery ward.

"Samson!" Brandon yelled, "I love you!"

Through the little windows in the doors, I could see the nurse grab his shoulders and escort him back down the hall. It looked like she was trying to console him.

The doctor's voice brought me back to reality. "He seems like a nice boy. A real keeper, huh?"

"Yeah..." I said.

I could feel the tears roll down my face, from not being able to be the one to console him, like I always do. But that's not quite possible now.

"You're going to feel a small sting in your arm. Don't worry it's just the anesthesia. Before you know it you'll be waking up in recovery with your boyfriend by your side." The doctor told me.

"Thank you doctor..." I said.

He wasn't wrong, I could feel myself slipping away before I even knew it. Damn those drugs work fast.

*************************************************************************************

I was pacing around the waiting room, biting my nails. I was worried about my mate and about why this would happen to him.

"Chris, what if something goes wrong?" I asked.

My sister was sitting down in one of the empty chairs. Strangely we were the only ones in the waiting room, with the occasional injured drunk passing through. I guess it's not really that strange, it is late.

"You worry too much." She scolded, "Everything will be fine. Remember what the nurse told us, this kind of thing is common to his species... Our species too actually. I believe something similar happened with Aunt Tamera a few years ago."

"Common doesn't mean everything is going to be okay!" I was speaking quite loudly to her, getting a little worked up.

"She also said it was easily treatable in his case." She said, temporarily looking up from her phone, "You're worrying about nothing."

"But what if I caused it!" she gave me a skeptical look as she got up and walked over to me.

"How could you have caused it?" I looked away with a guilty face, "Were you two..."

"No." I said, deadpan, "It didn't even get that far. We were just kissing and then I... and then I moved up to grab his ear and..." she placed her hand on my shoulder.

"...and that is when this happened." I shook my head yes fighting back tears of guilt as she spoke, "Don't worry about it I'm sure he'll be fine. You just need to be there for him."

*************************************************************************************

The first thing I saw, when I opened my eyes, was a nurse leaning over me, adjusting the IV bags next to the bed. I looked around and saw Chris. She was standing on the other side of the room twiddling her hands, and I could see Brandon sitting next to her. I could see him playing with his phone. I looked up at the nurse, who still hasn't noticed that I was awake.

"Nurse..." I said to get her attention.

She looked down at me with a pleasant smile.

"Try not to move too much sir." She told me, "I'll go get the doctor for you."

"Thank you." I whispered.

By now Chris was smiling at me. She poked Brandon in the ribs to get Brandon's attention. He jumped a little at her jab. He didn't look too thrilled, until he looked up to see me looking back. He quickly slid his phone into his pocket and jumped out of the chair, making his way over to me.

"Hey... How are you feeling Sam?" he asked.

"Like morphine doesn't like bright lights..." I mumbled.

As I said that I gave a dazed look, up to the drip bag hanging above my head.

"I'll see if the nurse can do anything about that." He said.

He smiled at me rubbing my cheek with his thumb. I heard the door open and looked over to see the doctor from earlier, walking over to me.

"Ah..." Doctor Calpo said, "I'm glad to see you're awake Mr. Temmek."

"Please just call me Samson." I told him.

"Well then... Samson." He corrected himself. "The surgery went off without a hitch, and pretty soon your spine will be as good as new. You will need to wear a back brace for the next week, while you recover though."

"Thank you Doctor Calpo." I said, not feeling all there.

"Also we ran a few tests while you were asleep." He continued. I hope this isn't going to be him rambling on again, "Fortunately your kidneys are fine and it just appears that you'll need to take calcium supplements for a while to strengthen your bones and help keep this from happening again."

That was less long winded than I thought it would be.

"Wait, you mean this might happen again?" Brandon turned his attention to the doctor, sounding quite worried.

"Well, I can't say that it will never happen again. But the chances of another disk collapsing is still small. But you sir, still need to watch your health better." The doctor turned his attention to me, "This could have been prevented, if you had your blood tested regularly."

"My health hasn't quite been a priority recently." I said.

I guess my health has been the last thing on my mind recently. Well between school, boyfriends and... parents, who really has the time.

"Now that we know about it, we can maintain your condition." He said, "We'll be ready to release you in a couple of hours. I'll have the nurse bring you your vitamins."

Brandon grabbed the doctor's arm, "Thank you."

The doctor only gave a nod and walked out of the room leaving the three of us alone.

"Looks like our Friday's not going quite to plan." I gave a slight chuckle.

"No it didn't," He said, "past tense. It's actually Saturday around two in the afternoon."

"I'm afraid I'll have to take a rain check tonight, in that case."

"I don't blame you." He said with a smile, "Plus I'll think I'll be busy taking care of a certain ti-ti-liger tonight, it just sorta came up. You know how it goes." I gave a chuckle at his remark.

"You better treat him well." I said. "I hear that ti-ti-ligers can be a real bitch to handle."

"I think I can handle it." He said, "After all I've had a good amount of practice."

"Oh! Someone I might know?" I continued to play his game it helped pass the time and I found it quite amusing.

"Just the love of my life." He said, leaning in close.

"I love you Brandon..." I said.

He just stared into my eyes continuing to rub my chin.

"I know babe. I know..." he leaned down to gently give me a kiss, before grabbing my paws and holding them, as he sat down next to me.

We sat like that for a few hours. Until the nurse came back in to tell us, that we could go home and to give me, my medicine and back brace. Brandon wheeled me out to the car in one of the hospitals wheel chairs.

The nurse helped me up, as she told me, "Walking may be a little difficult for the next day or two but after that you should be fine."

I braced myself against Brandon's arm. He and Chris helped me into the car. As I sat down, I saw their mother, walking out of the hospital towards us she climbed into the driver's seat and Chris took the passenger seat. Brandon sat next to me, meticulously observing me for any sign of discomfort and helping me when I needed it. It was then that I fully realized that he is the one that I am meant to be with, no one else.

His mother didn't speak much, but when she did, it was mostly about how I was feeling or if I needed anything. When we got home, Brandon helped me to my room, which just happened to be down a flight of stairs. I learned that surgery, pain meds, back braces and stairs, are not the best combination. If it weren't for Brandon, I probably would have landed on my face a few times.

He helped me into my bed, making me comfortable and then sat down next to me. He returned to stroking of my face comfortingly. I guess it was just as comforting to me, as it was for him. Felling the fur on fur contact between us, and that we were both still there.

I know that he blames himself for this and wants to make it right but, I don't blame him. If anything I blame my great grandfather for giving me the bad genes.

"Brandon, in the top drawer of my dresser, there is a pendant strung on a blue chain can you bring it to me?" I asked him.

"Sure. Is this it?"

"Yes." I said.

I looked at the gem hanging from the chain as it shined in the light. I never really put much stock into old superstitions or myths but I found myself drawn to the pendant. I put the pendant around my neck.

"What do you think?" I asked.

"It's beautiful." He said, "Where did it come from?"

"My father gave it to me when I was little..." I said..

My father...